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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Zia Sun(zsun) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank_Ching who wrote (8162)	6/7/2000 10:29:00 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 10354

Big 5 Firms To Report Lapses By MARCY GORDON .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's top five accounting firms, stung by widespread violations at one of their own, have agreed to report past violations of rules requiring accountants to remain independent from companies they audit. In exchange, the Big Five accounting firms will be sheltered from enforcement actions by regulators, except in cases involving the most serious violations, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday. Those cases would include an accounting firm or one of its senior executives working on an audit while owning stock in the audited company, the SEC said. The agency's rules forbid accountants from owning stock in companies under their scrutiny. The five firms, which dominate the accounting industry - PricewaterhouseCoopers, Andersen Worldwide, KPMG Peat Marwick, Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young - also agreed to hire independent attorneys to oversee reviews of stocks held by the firms' partners and managers. The SEC is inviting all U.S. accounting firms to participate in the new voluntary program, which takes effect on June 15. ``This serious and comprehensive review will enhance investor confidence and lead to improved quality-control systems going forward,'' SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt said in a statement. SEC officials have been stressing the need for accounting firms to be more independent of the companies they audit, to preserve the integrity of accountants' audit reports - thereby upholding investors' confidence in the stock markets. The concern about auditors' independence comes at a time when corporations are coming under increased scrutiny over their accounting practices, from federal regulators as well as investors. Earlier this year, then-investor darling MicroStrategy Inc. restated its earnings after questions were raised over how it was recording revenue from its sales contracts. Investors sent shares plummeting 62 percent in one day; the SEC is still investigating. Last month, America Online Inc. paid a $3.5 million fine to the SEC to settle federal allegations it violated financial reporting rules by counting advertising costs as assets during the mid-1990s. In a speech last month Levitt said the SEC was considering possible new rules designed to protect auditors' independence, including limits on the types of other services an accounting firm can provide the companies it audits. SEC officials also have expressed concern that accounting firms are jeopardizing their independence by becoming more financially dependent on the lucrative consulting work they do for companies they audit. Accounting firms' profits from consulting have grown dramatically, and some accountants have been lured by dazzling returns to buy stock in Internet companies that are their clients. Some large accounting firms recently have sold or spun off their consulting operations. Regulators were appalled by revelations in January of widespread violations of auditor rules at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where nearly half the partners reported owning stock in corporations they audited, according to an independent review. As a result of the inquiry, five partners of the firm and a ``like number'' of staff employees were dismissed. A year earlier, after the SEC had found similar violations at the firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers had promised the abuses would not be repeated. In a January 1999 settlement with the SEC, the company had agreed to set up a $2.5 million education fund for the accounting profession, tighten its procedures for monitoring adherence to auditor independence rules and conduct an internal investigation supervised by an outside person. New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers, created from the 1998 merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement. A self-regulating accounting industry group, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, adopted new guidelines in February requiring the Big Five firms to set up more rigorous internal control systems to make sure accountants remain independent. The new oversight measures, which include training programs for accountants and strengthening inspection processes, are expected to cost the five firms a total of some $25 million. On the Net: SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt's speech on financial reporting and accounting: sec.gov Web site of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants: aicpa.org AP-NY-06-07-00 1923EDT

To: Frank_Ching who wrote (8162)	6/8/2000 11:00:00 AM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10354

What is all thi talk from vklepa Ziasuns STAR witness against me all about Frank? By: vklepa Reply To: 22445 by Frank_Ching Thursday, 8 Jun 2000 at 10:51 AM EDT Post # of 22450 hey, Frank Ching, I suggest you stop it right there. Take it as a warning this time. You call me a basher one more time and I'll demonstrate to you, what thta word really means. I have no doubt whatsoever that you are a hypster and I do not believe in your position in ZSUN. You sold long time ago, probably traded your shares many times, which was easy having an inside knowledge and being a full time hypster. I will post my opinions here and I suggest that NOBODY and NEVER again threatens me with JAIL and other nonsense. It is my opinion that those last two acquisitions was a NONSENSE from the commercial point of view. We still don't know all the details, but since they were not voluntered I feel free to suspect some ugly surprises, like the details of the performance premium shares for OIA's shareholders. Now, Frank, are you going to be negative to my person, or would you rather discuss the merits? Your choice, but think twice before you decide to take my gloves off. Or perhaps seek some instructions. The bottom line is that this company let its shareholders down so many times, that any number of so called bashers here would be well justified. Once again, it is an ORDER now, BOY, address me with respect, boy, because I've had enough of your hyping for a gain. I assure you that you, and some others, do not really want hear all what I have to say. see you later boy (Voluntary Disclosure: Position- No Position)